by Michael Kammen (Author)
From the beginning, what has given our culture its distinctive
texture, pattern, and thrust, according to Michael Kammen, is the dynamic interaction of the imported and the indigenous. He shows how, during the years of colonization, some ideas and institutions were transferred virtually intact from Britain, while, simultaneously, others were being transformed in the New World. As he unravels the tangled origins of our culture, he makes us see that unresolved contradictions in the American experience have created our national style. Puritanical and hedonistic, idealistic and materialistic, peace-loving and war-mongering: these opposing strands go back to the genesis of our history.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 316
Edition: Reissue
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Published: 31 Dec 1993
ISBN 10: 0801497558
ISBN 13: 9780801497551
A lively, wide-ranging book . . . highly impressive. . . . I wish I had written People of Paradox. -Marcus Cunliffe, New York Times Book Review
Puts forth an interpretation that all American historical scholars will have to take seriously as they prepare their own versions of American history. -Carl Bridenbaugh, Yale Review